After spending some much-needed time with her favorite little man, Vanessa seemed much calmer. Thinking about applying to and eventually going back to school caused some anxiety. Then after she blew up on Ima at Cara Cara and the stress of everything that happened with Gemma and Clay had her feeling exhausted.
So being home with Abel and having their tummy time together was something that Vanessa was grateful for. She spent most of the afternoon playing with him, feeding him, and listening to music with him while Neeta was away for a few hours. Her favorite part of the day was talking with him. Well, she would talk then he would babble away for hours like he knew exactly what she was talking about. When Neeta finally came back, Vanessa decided to let Abel rest while she headed over to the clubhouse
"Hey." She gave a sad smile to Gemma when she walked in, seeing the woman sitting down and looking over paperwork. "Tara came by the house today. HIV test, you're due." She said handing over the canister.
Gemma sighed but got up and was walking to the bathroom when she decided to tell Vanessa what was going on.
"I haven't had sex since it happened."
"Makes sense. You're still healing."
"Pussy's not the problem. It's my head." Gemma admitted.
"You need time."
"I need something." Gemma sighed again.
"Where's Clay with all this?"
"Did you miss the car show earlier? He hates me."
"That's not true, Gemma." Vanessa tried to convince her.
"I don't know." Gemma left to the bathroom, leaving Vanessa to sit in the office by herself, running her hands over her face. Vanessa heard the motorcycle pulling into the lot and smiled to herself, glad that she was able to see Jax again. She looked out the window and saw Jax letting Ima off the back of his bike before backing into his usual parking spot.
"Son of a bitch." Vanessa muttered to herself. "What the fuck is this?" She watched Ima trying to flirt with Jax, twirling her hair and trying to get closer to him.
Gemma walked back in, but Vanessa still didn't take her eyes off of Jax and Ima. She saw Ima take a gentle hold onto Jax's chin and pull him in for a kiss without him even attempting to pull away. Vanessa's eyes shut at the sight and her jaw clenched.
"You good with that rubbing up on Jax?" Gemma asked, seeing Vanessa take a deep breath and open her eyes.
"I trust him."
"It's not him you worry about. It's them. You don't have a crow on you. They think he's a free dick. You gotta educate."
"She knows I'm with him, walked in on me and Jax fucking at Bobby's homecoming party. She knows I'm living with him, taking care of his kid."
"And she still isn't backing off? You gotta set the bitch straight. The others see it, everyone knows."
"I can't be fighting with these skanks, Gem. I have a job that I worked hard for. I have Abel. I have responsibilities, things to lose."
"You remember what you told me a few months ago? You said that you're finally figuring out that you have things worth fighting for."
"I didn't mean that literally."
"Well, you should. You're a tough little bitch. So, show them that."
"You ever fight with them, for Clay or John?" Vanessa asked, weighing her other options.
"You saw me clock a skinny bitch in the face with a skateboard because of Clay." Vanessa chuckled at that.
"Right." She nodded, trying to figure out what she should do. "I don't know. I'm not 18 years old anymore, Gemma. I like to think that my catfighting days are behind me."
"We'll see."
"Dealer said Darby's cooking down by the streams." Opie told everyone at Church.
"I know that part of Water Road. Only a few houses." Jax announced.
"We find the right one, clear it out, burn it down." Clay ordered.
"You're talking about blowing something up in our backyard." Jax said, causing Clay to nod. "That's exposure, Clay."
"Don't see another way, brother." Chibs chipped in.
"Why don't we just tell Unser?" Jax suggested. "Let the cops actually do their job for once."
"Doesn't send a message." Tig pointed out.
"Zobelle's not a gangster. We don't know what kind of message to send."
"Alright. We let the cops handle it. Only we don't tell Unser, we tell Hale."
"If he buries the intel then we know he's on Zobelle's payroll." Opie nodded.
"I'm telling you, man, Hale is not working for White Power." Jax chuckled, knowing how out of character that would be for the officer.
"Well, then he shuts down the cook shop, don't he?" Clay started.
"And if he doesn't, we do." Tig spoke up.
"All in favor?" All the guys raised their hands.
Jax walked out of the clubhouse and saw Vanessa across the lot, putting her bag in the back seat and getting ready to jump in the truck to leave. He walked quickly towards her before she could leave.
"Nes." He called out, causing her to turn around. He went to kiss her on the lips but she turned her head the slightest bit so he would only kiss her on the cheek. He looked at her confused. "You alright?"
"I'm fine. What's up?"
"Need to go see your brother about some official police business." He smirked. "Figured you would wanna take the ride with me." Vanessa didn't answer, just walked around to the passenger side of the truck and got in.
"What's with this passive aggressiveness I'm getting right now?" He asked as he got in the truck.
"Nothing, I'm just tired." She answered, crossing her arms over here chest, looking out the window as he started driving towards the station. She stayed silent for a few minutes but saw Jax looking over towards her a few times. She cleared her throat and tried to gather the strength to talk to him without smacking the kiss that Ima left behind right off of his lips. "So, you and Ima, huh?"
"What are you talking about? There is no me and Ima." His eyebrows furrowed together, getting the hint as to what she was so pissed off about.
"Oh, I don't know. You two sure did look cozy while you were practically making out in the lot in front of everyone today."
"We weren't making out, Nessa. She kissed me."
"And you let it happen. Even though we were just talking about our future together this morning." He could still hear the passive aggressive tone she took.
"Wait a minute," he smirked. "Are you jealous?"
"I don't know, Jax. Maybe tonight at the wrap party, you know, the same one you forgot to tell me about, I'll make out with Juice or Half Sack, maybe even both. Or better yet, maybe I'll find myself a nice male porn star with a huge co-"
"Alright, I get it. I'm sorry. I shouldn't have let it happen. But that shit with her means nothing."
"Until it doesn't." She whispered to herself, but he could still hear her.
"Hey, look at me." Jax said as they pulled up in front of the station. "That kiss meant nothing. It was her delusional way to thank me for giving her a ride. She means nothing. Tell me how to fix this."
"I don't know, Jax." She whispered, feeling more insecure than she wanted to be feeling, but having a constant rotation of girls who wanted nothing more than to be on his dick caused her to feel like maybe she wasn't good enough. Between the croweaters and the porn stars, she didn't know where she was supposed to fit in with Jax.
"Get my crow." Vanessa's eyes quickly flicked to his to see if he was serious. He could see that her eyes had grown a little wider in the pure shock that she was feeling, but she quickly swallowed it down.
"I don't want your crow if it's only 'cause you think it would help this situation. Because it doesn't."
"You think I would give you my crow if I didn't really want you to have it?" He looked in her eyes, causing her to flick hers away. He grabbed gently onto her chin, tilting her head so she would be making eye contact with him again.
Vanessa just shrugged, biting her lip gently.
"You already got my heart, might as well get my crow too." He gave her that signature Jax Teller smirk. "I've wanted you to have my crow since we were teenagers, Nessa. You're the one that always kept pushing it off."
"Are you sure that's what you want?" Jax just kissed her passionately and pulled away, nodding his head. She pulled him in for another kiss, but quickly pulled away. "You pull that shit again or you fuck around with anyone else and I will cut that goddamn crow off of me, right after I cut your balls off."
"I got it, babe. You got my balls in a vice." He gave her a smile that told her he was joking before kissing her forehead. "Happy's in town tonight for the wrap party. You can have it on you before the party even starts."
"You move pretty fast, Teller."
"You've seen the way the guys around the clubhouse look at you. Gotta put my mark on ya quick."
"Yeah, now if only the old ladies could put marks on their men so everyone knows to stay away. But I don't think that would ever happen, huh?" Jax thought about her question but didn't give her a straight answer.
"You can always mark me in other ways, darlin'." Jax gave her another flirty smile, causing her to kiss his neck, gently biting and sucking on his neck, trying to leave little love bites. Jax groaned with lust but made eye contact with her older brother right behind her. "Shit, Vanessa. There's your brother."
Vanessa quickly pulled away and looked back at David who was staring at them as he was getting out of his Ford Bronco. She couldn't help the slight blush on her cheeks, feeling like a teenager who just got caught making out with her boyfriend. She jumped out of Jax's truck and he placed a hand on her waist, right above her ass.
"You two waiting for me?" Hale asked, seeing both of them nodding.
"Yeah. Nords are dealing in town." Jax started. "Found out where Darby's cooking. Water Road, out by the streams."
"In Charming?" David reiterated, looking to both of them.
"Yeah. Red house. Shouldn't be hard to find."
"So now you're doing my job, too?"
"David…" Vanessa started but was cut off by Jax.
"I'm telling you, we don't nip this now, Nords are gonna flood that mill with crank. I'm not jerking you around, man. I convinced Clay to let you guys handle it. Do it by the book for a change."
"Okay. Well, I'll take a ride out there." David nodded his goodbye to her before he walked away.
"You think he's working with them?" Jax asked her.
"I don't think he would. But it wouldn't be the first time my family tried to take down Sam Crow by doing something really fucking stupid."
"We got shit to do and you're having Hap waste his time putting ink on her right fuckin' now? You didn't think this shit through or what? We gotta get out to Water Road before this fucking wrap party, Jax." Clay bitched in his ear causing Jax to roll his eyes.
"Hap'll be done in a few; he's just finishing up." Jax heard Clay scoff before walking away. Jax walked over to where Vanessa had her shirt pulled up and the pair of basketball shorts pulled down so Happy could put the finishing touches on.
"Sittin' like a champ." Happy growled out when Jax walked over to them, looking over the smooth black and gray work. Jax smiled, beaming with pride that his girl was doing so well.
She looks too fucking good right now, too. Shit. Jax thought, knowing it was probably a bad idea to be putting his ink on her before he had to go deal with club shit, because now all he could think about was how that ink would look while she was on top of him.
"We done?" Vanessa asked, no longer hearing the tattoo machine.
"Yeah, babe. Take a look." Jax told her, handing a small mirror over to her so she could see better. The black and gray crow had its wings spread across her hip, the tattoo spanning down to her thigh. She was amazed at how much detail was put into the tattoo, but her heart fluttered when she saw the lilies that were also inked onto her skin around the crow. Vanessa looked up at Jax and he saw tears forming in her eyes.
"Thank you, Happy." She smiled at him and the bald man nodded, cleaning and taping the plastic wrap over the tattoo before walking away from them. Vanessa looked back at Jax and grabbed his hand, his other hand running through her golden hair. "I love you, Jax. So much."
"I love you, too." Jax kissed her passionately, intensifying the kiss each second that passed. Jax had to pull away, knowing that they were gonna end up getting carried away.
"I'm your old lady." She laughed, a few tears forming in her eyes again, never thinking that her and Jax would ever see each other again, much less get back together, live with each other, and be raising a beautiful baby boy together.
"You're my old lady." He smiled, smacking her ass before kissing her hard once again, causing her to squeal with joy. They both heard a throat being cleared loudly, both of them looking in the direction that it came.
"You finished with this shit yet, Jax? We got shit to do." Clay snapped, walking away without letting either of them answer.
"I don't think he likes me very much." Vanessa sounded a little upset.
"I don't think he likes me very much either, babe." He kissed her once more. "I gotta go, club shit. I'll see you at the party later tonight?"
"Mhm." She nodded, just realizing his wardrobe now. He was wearing all dark clothing and had a black beanie on his head, his kutte nowhere to be found. She grabbed the front of his black hoodie and pulled him closer towards her. "My brother didn't come through?"
Jax shook his head, a sad smile on his face. He knew that she probably felt a sting of betrayal and confusion at the notion of her brother working with the League.
"Fucking idiot." She scoffed quietly. "Please be careful, baby."
"Always, darlin'." He kissed her hard one last time before pulling away. "Gotta get back to my kid. And my sexy as hell old lady." Jax smirked and walked away from her, her heart beating quickly at the words. She was officially his girl. His old lady.
All the guys were walking quietly towards the red house by the streams out on Water Road. Jax looked around, thinking of the first time he took Vanessa out to the streams. He got her high for the first time ever and they just talked about everything. He talked about losing his dad and his brother, how difficult it was for him to let Clay into his life as his new step-father. She talked about her mom being sick and how hard it was to see her before she passed away. She also told him all about how she felt like her dad had loathed her, always comparing her to her brothers. They'd only been seeing each other for two and a half months, but he had never felt more comfortable with anyone. That night continued with him daring her to jump in the lake that connected to the streams, and it ended with them skinny dipping. It was the night that he realized he was falling in love with her.
Now she's my old lady.
Jax hid the smile that was threatening to overtake his face, knowing he had to be focused on the task at hand. Blowing up the house.
"That's gotta be it." Jax whispered, seeing the only red house. All of the lights were on inside, but curtains covered every single window.
"Go." Clay spoke a little louder while Jax looked over the property.
"Hold it!" Jax whisper-yelled and pointed. "Cameras."
Everyone quickly pulled their masks over their faces and started doing what they were supposed to. Tig and Chibs ran up on both sides of the house, scouting it out.
"We're set." Opie spoke lowly.
"We'll clear the house, then blow it." Jax told everyone their roles, seeing them running off to set the bomb up. Quickly, all of the guys began shooting at the house, blowing out all of the windows and heard the men inside yelling and running, shooting their guns into the wind, just trying to jump into their cars and leave as fast as they could.
Jax kicked the door in, running inside and looking throughout the house to make sure that it was clear. Jax ran back outside, hiding away from the house, knowing that it would be up in flames and smoke any second.
"Who's got the remote?" Jax asked.
"Ope's not using one." Juice shook his head, causing Jax to look over at him, worry clear on both men's faces. Jax saw Opie running out of the house as fast as he could before the whole thing went up in flames. He saw Opie jump to the ground, just barely making it out alive, as he watched his best friend crawling away from the burning house before jumping back up and running towards them.
Jax looked over at Clay, anger clear on his face. Jax knew exactly what Opie was doing, it was the same shit that he did when Vanessa left Charming. He threw himself into the club, not caring at all about his own safety. Jax shook his head, knowing that his friend was still broken up about losing Donna, not that he blamed him. Jax just wished he could do something for his best friend.
